The New Orleans–based Rizzuto’s Ristorante & Chop House amassed an almost cult-like following in the Crescent City’s Lakeview neighborhood after it opened in 2017. The Sicilian-inflected menu was inspired by meals prepared for restaurateurs and brothers Jack Rizzuto and Phil Rizzuto by their grandmother Lena. It first featured popular dishes like eggplant Valentina, seafood manicotti, and what’s essentially a sizable but surprisingly refined meatball. The brothers soon expanded across the river to Gretna. And now they’re making a longer leap, opening an outpost in downtown Biloxi, Mississippi. They acquired the historic Redding House, a 1908 Colonial Revival mansion that one might mistake for a wedding cake on the outside but on the inside is all chocolatey, dark mahogany and cypress. Expect traditional Italian fare, along with their noted crab cakes and house-aged steaks.
Southern Agenda